Subway to transition to meat raised without antibiotics

Move draws kudos from advocacy groups, scientists

Published 3:55 pm, Tuesday, October 20, 2015

This file photo, shows a chicken breast sandwich and water from Subway on a kitchen counter in New York.

This file photo, shows a chicken breast sandwich and water from Subway on a kitchen counter in New York.

Photo: FILE

Subway to transition to meat raised without antibiotics

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

NEW YORK >> Subway said Tuesday that it plans to switch to meat raised without antibiotics over the next several years.

The announcement comes after the company was targeted by advocacy groups calling for the change, with a coalition planning to deliver petitions to Milford-based Subway’s headquarters on Thursday.

ConnPIRG State Director Evan Preston said in a release that the organization was set to deliver more than 300,000 petitions to Subway headquarters in Milford Thursday, “much of it from staff and volunteers who had blanketed neighborhoods around the state and with our partners from around the country since early this summer.”

“But it now looks like we’ll deliver a giant ‘thank you’ card instead,” Preston said in the release.

“Overusing antibiotics on livestock and poultry contributes to a major public health problem, antibiotic-resistant infections. People are increasingly aware of this, and customers have been hungry for meat raised without antibiotics,” he said. “We’re ecstatic that Subway will be living up to the healthy image they’ve created. They have more restaurants in the U.S. than any other chain, and their announcement will put major market pressure on the meat producers to stop overusing antibiotics.”

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, a panel discussion on meat and antibiotics was held Oct. 9 in New Haven, organized by U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, which included professors from Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of Connecticut.

Carol Bascom-Slack, a professor of molecular biology and microbiology at Yale, was one of the panelists and Tuesday, she said Subway’s decision “is great news.”

“There is a growing body of evidence linking antibiotic-resistant infections in humans to meat that was treated with antibiotics,” Bascom-Slack said. “Furthermore, the sub-thera use of antibiotics on farms rearing those animals results in antibiotic residues in soil and water run-off, the effects of which are not clear. Since Subway is a large consumer of meat products worldwide ... (it) will create incentive for food production facilities to eliminate use of antibiotics for non-therapeutic uses.”

Nichole Broderick, an assistant professor in the University of Connecticut’s Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, said Subway’s decision “sends a big message to the public and producers that they are committed to antibiotic stewardship and protecting human and animal health long-term.”

“Reducing our use of antibiotics for purposes other than treating diseases (of humans or animals) is a big step in helping to reduce the selection pressure of antibiotics in the environment, which in turn reduces the spread of antibiotic resistance,” Broderick said.

The sandwich chain had said this summer that it would start switching to chicken raised without antibiotics important to human medicine by next year. Now, it says it will serve chicken that receive no antibiotics starting in March 2016. It will also make the change to turkey starting sometime next year, with a transition expected to be complete within two to three years.

Pork and beef raised without antibiotics will follow within six years after that, or by 2025, the company says.

Subway said its announcement was the “culmination of several months of intensive work with suppliers” and that it is proud to finally be in a position to share its plans. It said the decision was not a reaction to any campaign, and that it continually works on improving its menu.

The announcement comes as multiple groups including Natural Resources Defense Council, Friends of the Earth, the Center for Food Safety, U.S. Public Interest Research Group and food blogger Vani Hari had campaigned to get Subway to commit to buying meat produced without the routine use of antibiotics, and provide a timeline for doing so.

Even as news of Subway’s decision was trickling out Tuesday,, the groups were releasing a new report and scorecard of America’s 25 largest fast food and fast casual chains on their meat and poultry antibiotics policies. Subway received a failing grade in the report while several of its fast food rivals, including McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A had passing grades.

“From bacon cheeseburgers to chicken nuggets, most meat served by America’s chain restaurants comes from animals raised in industrial-scale facilities, where they are routinely fed antibiotics to prevent disease that is easily spread in crowded, unsanitary, stressful conditions,” Kari Hamerschlag, senior program manager at Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. “It’s time for the U.S. restaurant industry to take leadership and address the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance by working with their meat and poultry suppliers to eliminate the routine use of antibiotics and improve overall conditions in U.S. meat production.”

Livestock producers often give their cattle, hog and poultry antibiotics to make them grow faster and to prevent illnesses. The practice has become a public health issue, with officials saying it can lead to germs becoming resistant to drugs so that they’re no longer effective in treating illnesses in humans.

Chipotle and Panera already say they serve meat raised without antibiotics, and McDonald’s said earlier this year it would make the switch for its chicken. Subway is the largest chain in the U.S. by locations, with more than 27,000 stores.

Hamerschlag said a coalition of groups had notified Subway last week of their plans to deliver their petitions on Thursday to its headquarters in Milford, She said the groups have been trying to get a meeting with Subway since this summer, but that the company has not been responsive.

While other chains serve meat from animals that are given antibiotics, Hamerschlag said the groups singled out Subway because of its image.

“We thought Subway was the most important one to target publicly because they claim to be this healthy fast-food restaurant chain,” she said.